Geography
With a vast land area of almost 10 million square kilometres and a population of just over 30 million people, Canada has a lot of wide open spaces with huge tracts of uninhabited countryside. There is a great variety of different landform, ranging from the intensively farmed plains of the south to the evocatively named “Barren Grounds” of the north, which are characterised by permafrost and freezing tundra. The Yukon stretches from British Columbia in the south to beyond the Arctic Circle. To the northwest it is bordered by Alaska. The region and the state gets its name from the Yukon River, a 3000-km (1800 mile) artery that rises in BC's Coast Mountains and flows through the heart of the Yukon and Alaska to the Bering Sea. At the westernmost tip of the Yukon are located the country's highest mountains. Together with the neighbouring Wrangell National Park in Alaska, the Kluane National Park protects the St Elias Mountains, including Mount Logan (5950m) - Canada's highest point – and Mount McKinley (6193m) in Alaska, the highest point in North America. Below them, and covering half the park, is a huge basin of mile-deep glaciers and ice fields, the world's largest non-polar ice. The Canadian Rockies extend for 2000 km (1200 miles) south from the Yukon through Alberta and British Columbia. One of the most accessible parts of the range is located at the western edge of the state of Alberta, some 250 km (155 miles) west of Edmonton and closer still to the town of Calgary. Here, there are 2 adjoining national parks; Banff National Park and Jasper National Park, which together enclose more than 17,000 sq km (6,560 sq miles) of beautiful mountain scenery. Despite its ease of access, this is still a wilderness area. Endless forests, extensive tundra, powerful glaciers, and cascading rivers are overlooked by peaks almost 4000m (13,000ft) tall. The Athabasca River, which has its source in the Jasper National Park, flows for more than 1500 km (almost 1000 miles) across Canada.

Time Zone
The time in Alberta is GMT -7 hours.

Climate
The weather in the Rocky Mountains of western Alberta is ever-changing and always unpredictable. Summer days are long, but the summer season is short. July is the warmest month with a mean daily maximum temperature of 22 degrees centigrade. We can expect to encounter temperatures during the day ranging from 18 to 27 degrees centigrade. Naturally, at the highest elevations on our trip, the daytime temperatures will be lower than this. At night, the temperatures will typically drop to around 10 degrees centigrade or even a few degrees lower. Although the weather is relatively stable at this time of year, we can expect some rainfall.

History & Population
The history of Canada begins well before Columbus. When Lief Ericson arrived around AD 1000, he found a land populated by many Indian tribes, each with their own languages, and developed cultures, and religious beliefs. The various ‘nations’ had well established laws and governments, produced arts and crafts, and traded goods and food. Of the many post Columbus Europeans to come to the region, it was French explorer Jacques Cartier who made the first claim on the area surrounding the St Lawrence River in 1534. Quebec City, founded in the early 17th century, became a province of France which subsequently benefited greatly from the fur trade. In 1670 the British founded the Hudson Bay Company and inevitably. 'friendly' competition turned to power struggle. In 1745, British troops captured a French fort in Nova Scotia precipitating conflict and war which concluded with the defeat of French troops by the British at Quebec City in 1759. At the Treaty of Paris in 1763, France handed Canada over to Britain. The population was however still majority French speaking, though a migration of about 50,000 British 'Loyalists' from the USA at the end of the American war of independence in 1783 helped to redress this imbalance. After American independence Canada and the USA fought several wars, the last being in 1812. In fear of an American style revolution in its remaining North American colony, Britain proclaimed the British North America Act in 1867. The Act established the Dominion of Canada and became Canada's equivalent of a constitution. Few episodes in Canadian history have captured the imagination like the Klondike gold rush in the Yukon. During a few months in 1898 something like 100,000 people struggled across huge tracts of wilderness to seek their fortunes in the richest gold field of all time. At the confluence of the Klondike and Yukon rivers stands Dawson City which for a short time became one of the wealthiest and most famous places on earth.

By 1912 Canada had central government which administered all provinces except Newfoundland, which finally joined in 1949. From this time Canada grew in stature and prosperity. It became a voluntary member of the Commonwealth in 1931 and entered defense and trade agreements with the USA. The postwar era was a period of economic expansion and prosperity. Since 1975, a series of land rights agreements has given Canada's native peoples some measure of control over vast swathes of the northern portion of the country. As to be expected Canada’s demographic make up is particularly diverse, with people of English and French descent predominating and with smaller numbers of people from a variety of European and Asian backgrounds. English and French are the major languages spoken and, in addition, there are more than 50 minority and native languages. Most of the population centres are close to the southern border with the USA. The capital city of Ottawa, with a population of just a million, is located close to the south-eastern corner of the country. The number of people in Canada who can claim indigenous status is actually very small at around 2%. In Alberta, a number of Indian tribes, including the Cree, hunted and fished along the Athabasca River, prior to the white man’s arrival in the area. With the development of the fur trade in the 18th century, Iroquois Indians also came into this area. The town of Jasper grew from a tiny outpost established in 1813, a place where trade goods were transferred from canoes to pack-horses for their onward journey into the mountains.

Currency
Canada’s unit of currency is the Canadian dollar. As of February 2006, the exchange rates are:

£1 = 2 Canadian dollars
$1 = 1.16 Canadian dollars
€1 = 1.36 Canadian dollars

Canadian dollars can be easily obtained outside the country. The best and fastest way to obtain cash in-country is from ATMs using a credit or debit card. If you are carrying your travel money in travellers cheques you should use US or Canadian dollar denominations. Cheques can be cashed at Thomas Cook and other exchange bureaux or at major banks. Credit cards can be used to purchase most goods and services and at major restaurants.

Visas
Citizens of the US, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, and nationals of countries within the EU do not need a visa for visits up to 90 days.

Vaccinations
You should visit your own doctor and dentist for a check-up prior to taking your trip to Canada. The following is a ROUGH GUIDE for immunization. (We must stress that this is only a basic guide to the most commonly required vaccinations for travel worldwide. You must seek and abide by the specific advice of your local doctor/medical professional).

(a) Polio (normally you will just need a booster.)
(b) Tetanus.
(c) Typhoid. A full course requires 2 injections separated by an interval of 4-6 weeks.
(d) Hepatitis (A) and (B).
(e) Rabies pre-exposure vaccination. Please refer to your doctor for advice on whether you need rabies pre-exposure vaccination. In the unlikely case of your being bitten, this vaccination does not eliminate the need for urgent evacuation to a suitable medical facility for additional treatment,. However, it does simplify that additional treatment and also prolongs the period that you can safely delay before receiving post-exposure treatment.

Given enough notice, your doctor will be able to administer all the above vaccinations.

Additional Sources of Information

Books
Canada's National Parks - A Visitor's Guide. Marylee Stepehenson
Kluane National Park Hiking Guide. Darryl Bray. Travel Vision, Canada.
The Outdoor Traveller's Guide to Canada . David Dunbar . Stewart, Tabori & Chang.
A Handbook of the Canadian Rockies . Ben Gadd. Corax.
The Lost Moose Catalogue. Lost Moose Publishing, Canada
The Penguin History of Canada. Kenneth McNaught

Maps
Banff & Jasper National Park 1:400 000
Jasper & Maligne Lake 1:100 000

Our trip dossiers/itineraries give details of books and maps that are specific to a particular trip. Click here for details of book and map retailers.

Web
Lonely PLanet - www.lonelyplanet.com
Rough Guides - www.roughguides.com